


From Research to Love

by hope170



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Female reader insert, Fluff, Reader Insert, have fun, lots of fluff, maybe some angst later, you're a writer in this one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2020-10-26 23:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 18,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20750507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hope170/pseuds/hope170
Summary: This is a reader insert fic.You're a writer headed to Beach City to do research for your book when you meet a friendly gem on the beach. You can't admit it to yourself, not right away at least, but she's pretty cute.





	1. Chapter 1

Y/N decided that she was completely done with driving.

She groaned, a spare hand rubbing her pained forehead. She always got headaches when she drove for so long. Her mother always said it was motion sickness or whatever, but she didn't care. She still needed to get places, headaches or not! And as she approached her destination, the small town coming into view as she crested a hill, she couldn't help but think it was all worth it!

The place took her breath away! The town looked like a jewel caught between two hills, glittering in the light of the rising sun. From her position, she could see the boardwalk sprawled along one side of the beach that boxed the town in on three sides, the lighthouse that sat at the top of the hill on the far side of the town, and the endless ocean the lay beyond. It was picturesque, a perfect beach town to relax in during the hot summers.

She couldn't help but smile as she drove into the town, admiring the homes that lined the streets, then the shops closer to the far end of town. She decided to park in the parking lot of a small cafe and spent some time collecting what she would need; a notebook, a pencil, and her phone. Once she had everything together, she headed out into the town.

She started at the boardwalk, observing every person she passed. She wasn't surprised or shocked when she found brightly colored individuals amongst the humans, ranging from red to blue, pink to yellow. She knew they would be there. She came to the town in the first place because she had read so much online about the aliens that lived on the earth with them, these "Gems", and she had wanted nothing more than to find out more about them and write a book filled with all the information she could gather. She had managed to write one book before but didn't find a lot of success with it. This didn't deter her one bit! She loved nothing more than to write, and if anything completing her first book only spurred her on further!

So, she picked a spot on a bench and simply watched, writing down notes as she observed the various interactions. It was still pretty early, so the Boardwalk was empty, a peacefulness resting over the place that could only be found in the early morning, but as time passed the energy shifted to excitement and joy, people playing the endless games and just walking and enjoying the scenery. Y/N felt so content just sitting there, watching the world pass for a few hours.

It was about mid-morning when she moved on, taking a walk along the beach. Despite it being such a nice beach town, there was hardly anyone actually on the beach. Y/N mentally reminded herself to come back later when she was less busy to swim in the waters.

Finally, she reached the farthest point of the beach and was amazed by what she found. There was a giant statue built into the hill! It looked ancient, weathered and cracked by thousand of years sitting by the ocean, beaten by the harsh winds and torn about by moss and vines. It was immense, like the guardian of an ancient world, left forgotten and abandoned. She got the feeling that it could wake up at any moment, spring into action to fight some kind of evil. Nestled amongst some of the hands of the statue was a little beach house with an odd dome-shaped attachment.

Y/N took her phone out and took a picture, looking it over. Ooh, that was a nice one. It looks like she'd got a new wallpaper.

"Whacha doin'?"

She nearly jumped a foot in the air when the voice sounded behind her.

"What the hell!"

She whipped around to find a girl watching her, head tilted curiously. It was one of the gems, her heart-shaped gemstone prominent on her chest. She was a bit shorter, with dark pink hair tied back into spiky looking pigtails, deep, black lines going down her face, almost like makeup. Did gems even wear makeup? That was just another question to add to her list.

The pink gem was still staring at her and she realized she had been staring and very much not answering the question thrown at her. 

"Man, you scared the crap out of me!"

The gem smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, I didn't mean ta."

"Well obviously." Y/N huffed, regaining her composure. "I'm just looking around the town is all."

"Not from around here?" the gem asked, scooting loser, bouncing slightly as she moved. You took a step back.

"Nah, I'm from Colorado."

The gem looked confused.

"Like, over a thousand miles away."

Her face lit up with understanding.

"Wow, that's pretty far away. Why did you come all the way over here? Was it to take in the view?" She put her hands on her hips, smirking up at the human, all hot air and bravado.

"Oh, umm..." Y/N paused a moment, debating with herself before deciding there was no point in hiding her intentions. "I'm doing some research so that I can write a book about Gems."

The Gem's eyes grew wide, more so than any human could, and she smiled brightly, her previous air giving way to excitement. 

"Really! Well, I hate to brag, but I happen to know a thing or two about Gems." She acted smug, striking a pose with her legs wide and shoulders turned just so, occasionally glancing back to see if the human was looking. She smirked at the sight.

"Really? You think you can introduce me to any?"

The pink gem looked genuinely upset for a moment before she caught on to what the human was doing and that mischievous smirk returned to her face.

"Hm, I don't know. I'm not sure I know any Gems."

Every word was dripping with sarcasm and Y/N couldn't help but laugh, just a little.

"I'm Y/N." She offered a hand and the gem happily took it, giving a strong shake.

"Spinel! Nice ta meetcha!"


	2. Chapter 2

Y/N spent the rest of the morning talking to this "Spinel" about everything and nothing. She talked a lot about gem life on earth, the different gems she knew and considered friends, even the nearby gem town, Little Homeworld. She seemed more than happy to just talk, and Y/N listened to every word. At least, almost every word. She found herself occasionally getting lost in the sparkle of those pink eyes as Spinel spoke about something she was especially passionate about, the odd way her arms would wave about like noodles to emphasize each point or the way her hair seemed to shift with her change of moods, poofing out when she got more excited and relaxing as she calmed down.

Despite all that she talked about, she had little to say about gem life anywhere else in the galaxy. She talked a little about living in a grand palace for the last few years and a few things about what life there was like for her, but little else, and absolutely nothing before the palace.

"I'm not really the best gem to tell you about that sort of stuff." She admitted, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, a shy smile on her face. "But I can help you talk to some other gems!"

"That would be awesome! I want to talk to as many gems as possible. Each person is going to have their own stories that are worth telling."

So they set a time and place for them to meet up.

"They're pretty busy people, after all." Spinel told her.

Spinel waved goodbye, almost skipping as she went her own way. Y/N watched her go till she was out of view, then went back into town.

She was supposed to meet back up with Spinel at the coffee shop, so she went there next. She had more than enough information to sort through, so she bought herself a coffee, sat down at one of the tables and got to work.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Spinel spotted her the moment the small group entered the shop. Y/N was sitting at a table in the far corner, ears covered and typing away at some sort of device.

"That's our lady!" She told Pearl and Steven, pointing to the human.

"I'm getting a coffee first." Steven told them, heading to the counter. Spinel dragged Pearl to the table, but it became clear that the woman had no idea they were there. Spinel got a mischievous smirk on her face and motioned for Pearl to wait a moment. The gem huffed and crossed her arms, but stood back, shaking her head at Spinel's antics.

Spinel got very close to Y/N, face only inches from hers, and just waited. She watched as the human's brows furrowed then she looked up, yelping and nearly falling out of her chair when she noticed the gem so close to her. She managed to catch herself just in time, yanking her headphones off. 

"What? Why? Why? Why would you do that? Oh my ..." She took a deep breath, managing to calm herself from the scare. "You did it on purpose that time."

"What? Noooooo! Why would I do such a thing!" Spinel replied, forcing sarcasm into every word, fighting to keep the smile off her face but not quite managing it. "This is Pearl, the gem I was talking about."

The woman looked at the new gem with a smile, getting out of her chair and extending her hand. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Y/N."

The gem, Pearl, shook her hand, a small polite smile on her face. "It's a pleasure meeting you as well. There's just so much I have to tell you! So we better get started."

The two sat down. The table was cleared of the laptop and a notebook was brought out with a list of questions. She set her phone to record their conversation and started with her questions.

Spinel quickly found herself bored with their talk but was happy enough just watching. She couldn't help but admire Y/N and the way she lit up when she found something interesting. Her E/C eyes seemed to glow with a warmth the more she learned about gem history. She leaned forward, her H/C hair, slipping from behind her shoulder to curtain her face perfectly. Spinel was so caught up watching that she didn't notice Steven sitting next to her till he cleared his throat.

Her cheeks heated as she snapped to attention, back ramrod straight, looking as if she was caught doing something wrong. Steven noticed, but chose not to mention it. Instead, he just smirked and turned to Y/N.

"Hey! I'm Steven."

"Nice to meet you, Steven! I'm Y/N." She shook his hand, smile dazzling. The sight would have taken Spinel's breath away if she needed to breathe. 

"Steven's half gem and half-human!" Spinel told her, smiling as the woman's eyes grew wide.

"Really? That's so cool! How does that even work?"

And with that, they went back to talking, Y/N paying close attention to what the two said. Occasionally Spinel would put in a joke and the woman would smile at her and chuckle, the sound warming her gem. She made it her new goal to make the woman laugh a real laugh, not just an amused chuckle. That would have to wait for another time, though. Right now she was perfectly content just watching her.

And she kept watching her. And they kept talking, till the sun was setting in the sky and Steven had to leave and meet up with Connie for dinner. He waved to them as he went, met with a round of goodbyes. So Pearl and Y/N continued to talk even more, not stopping till it was dark outside and Y/N let out an earth-shattering yawn, vainly trying to hide it behind a hand. 

"That's enough information for one day," Pearl said. "I haven't had such an attentive student in ages! It was a pleasure talking to you, Y/N. I hope we can talk again sometime."

"That would be amazing! Thank you so much!"

They two shook hands again and Pearl left, leaving a reminder that humans needed their sleep.

Y/N nodded but didn't move right away. She sighed, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes for a moment. Spinel kept watching, eyes lingering on the lines of her face until the woman opened her eyes and looked back.

Spinel felt her cheeks heat up again but refused to acknowledge it, sitting up in her chair. The woman smiled at her and she found herself smiling back.

"I'm glad I met you this morning, Spinel. I really appreciate all the help."

Her smile brightened at the praise and she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Aw shucks! It's nothing!"

There was a pause, the two just smiling at each other, before Y/N put all her stuff in her backpack and got ready to go, Spinel getting up when she did. Then she turned back to the gem.

"Hey, um... Do you think you can show me around town tomorrow?"

Spinel perked up at that, her pigtails poofed out a bit.

"Of course! I can show you around Little Homeworld! There's all sorts of gems there you can talk to!" She nearly jumped with how excited she was. This made Y/N laugh, not a true belly laugh but more than a chuckle. It warmed her gem and, somehow, her smile brightened even more.

"Meet back here around eight?" Y/N walked to the door as she asked, Spinel close on her heels.

"Sure! I'd love to!"

They made it out the door, the coffee shop employee locking it behind them. 

"Man, I hope we didn't keep them up." Y/N worried.

"I think they close at ten anyways, no worries!"

"Alrighty then. I'll see you tomorrow!"

The woman left, glancing back to wave goodbye.

Spinel waved back, then watched as she got into her car and drove off. She couldn't help but do a little spin once she had left.


	3. Chapter 3

Y/N struggled to wake up that morning. She groaned as the alarm pounded through her head. She grabbed blindly for her phone to turn the stupid thing off, glaring at the screen. It took her a few minutes to remember why she even had an alarm on.

Then she remembered the pink gem from the day before and jumped to attention. She had to get ready! She jumped out of the bed, grabbed a sundress she thought was cute, and got in the shower. 

Half an hour later she was rushing out the motel door, a small purse tossed over her shoulder. The motel was a couple of miles outside of the town since she couldn’t find one in the town itself. She didn’t mind the drive though. It gave her time to compose herself, to control her excitement for the coming day. She would talk to so many gems! Imagine all the stories they had to tell, everything they had experienced! She needed to share that. And she knew it would be loads of fun, too! Especially if Spinel’s going to be there. 

When she got to the coffee shop from the night before she could spot the pink gem standing out front, bouncing slightly on her heels, looking around as if she expected Y/N to pop out from behind a corner at any minute. The woman smiled at the site, the excitement she had been working on suppressing bubbling up once more. 

She parked her car and jogged to Spinel. When the gem saw her coming a smile broke across her face. She waved.

“Hey, Y/N! Ya’ ready to head out?”

“Not yet. I wanted to get some breakfast first. Humans gotta eat.”

Spinel frowned. 

“Oh, right.” She brightened again. “But then we can head out!”

“Yep!”

They went into the coffee shop, Y/N ordering while Spinel told her all about the different places they would see and the different gems they would meet.

“We have to talk to Bismuth. She practically built the whole place! And Biggs is lots of fun, we should talk to her too. And if we’re going to talk to Biggs, we’ll probably see Snowflake. Plus there’s the heaven and earth beetles, you’ll want to talk to them. You’re also going to want to talk to Garnet, but she doesn’t live in little homeworld so I’m not sure we’ll see her.”

The woman listened as the gem rambled on, a small smile on her face. Once she got her coffee and pastry they were off, Spinel dragging her along as they walked.

Little Homeworld was actually a couple miles out, but Spinel assured her it would only take minutes to get there. She was led away from where the gem town was, deeper into Beach City. It didn’t take long to reach the beach where they first met, the giant statue looming over them. She was surprised when Spinel dragged her towards it and the little beach house nestled amongst the hands. It must have shown on her face because Spinel chuckled.

“Don’t worry, it’s just Steven’s place. That’s where the closest warp pad is!”

Y/N remembered Pearl mentioning stuff about warp pads the day before. It was one of the ways gems traveled, right? 

The gem didn’t even knock. She just ran right into the house, dragging the poor woman behind her. She was struggling to keep up with the gem, but even then the smile never dropped from her face. The warp pad was in the back of the small living room and kitchen they found themselves in, a giant circle made of crystal set into the ground. Spinel hopped on and once Y/N had followed everything was lit up with light. 

They were surrounded on all sides by the blue lights. Y/N marveled at the sight, admiring the endless tunnel. 

Then, just suddenly as the light enveloped them it vanished and her feet hit solid ground once more. They had been dropped off in the middle of a town square! Tall, colorful buildings lined the streets and gems were everywhere, walking from place to place, talking to each other and working. There were even a few humans amongst the gems, but not nearly as much as Beach City. It was absolutely stunning!

“This place is amazing!” Y/N almost shouted, turning to her companion with a giant smile on her face. 

Spinel was staring at her, a matching smile on her face, eyes sparkling and cheeks dusted a darker shade of pink. 

“I knew you’d love it! Come on!”

The gem curled her arms around the human's arm a couple of times, yanking her along. She laughed again, making the gems blush darken ever so slightly.

Soon enough they were dashing through the town, stopping whenever Spinel spotted a store, shop, or structure that might interest Y/N, and every time she would exclaim how amazing it was. With every word of delight, the gem’s smile would grow wider or her eyes would shine brighter. 

Eventually, they stopped at a forge. Y/N stared in wonder at the variety of weapons that lined the walls, from the smallest of daggers to giant battle axes, easily ten times her size. But Spinel didn’t leave her much time to admire them, far too eager for her to meet the gem behind the amazing pieces. In the middle of the shop was a large grey gem with rainbow dreds who was dressed in overalls. Her gem was on her chest, metallic with a glint of many different colors.

“Hey Bismuth! You have to meet my new friend!”

The gem, Bismuth, looked up from the piece of metal she was hammering with a big, friendly smile.

“Hey there! Just give me one second …”

The metal was plunged into a barrel of water, a loud sizzling erupting as the metal was suddenly cooled and put aside. 

“So, who’s this new friend of yours?”

The gem approached and, despite her size, Y/N found she wasn’t the least bit startled by her. 

“Bismuth, this is Y/N. Y/N, Bismuth. She pretty much built this whole place herself!”  
“Come on now, that’s not true!” She protested. “Everyone built this place together! I just did some designs and structure stuff.”

Y/N smiled at the large gem. 

“It’s nice to meet you!”

“The pleasures all mine! What brings you to our little home away from homeworld?”

Before she could respond, Spinel spoke up, going back to clinging to the human's arm.

“She’s writing a book!”

This piqued the builder’s interest.

“Really? What about?”

Y/N became a little nervous with both the gems undivided attention on her.

“Well, about you. About Gems. Humans don’t know a whole lot about you, so I thought it would do a lot of good to write a book. I came to interview gems, collect their stories and learn more.”

“That’s a wonderful idea! Can I help?”

The woman brightened immediately.

“Of course!”

So the group settled down and Bismuth shared her story. She talked about her life before coming to Earth, the many building she had built and how none of it made her happy. But then she was on Earth and joined the rebellion. She spoke about it with such a passion. Imagine! Somewhere where you could be whoever you wanted, do whatever you wanted and be completely free! She didn’t have to build any more spires or coliseums. She could choose what she did, so she chose to make weapons.

Y/N hung on every word, not daring to interrupt. She didn’t even need to add any of her own questions! She just listened and took it all in, made sure it was all recorded. She couldn’t wait to sort through it later! 

Y/N only spoke up when the gem was finished.

“If you prefer to make weapons, that why did you build any of these?” She motioned around, referring to all the buildings in the small town. Bismuth just laughed, loud and warm.

“The difference is, I actually wanted to build Little Homeworld. It’s something I chose to do. Of course,” Bismuth gave a look to Spinel, a smirk on her face. “Spiny here didn’t make it easy.”

The gem in question stared at Bismuth with big eyes, a silent message to stop, but Bismuth didn’t seem to notice.

“There was that one time she almost knocked down half a building with that saw! All that scaffolding, destroyed! Eh, but don’t worry about it.” She put a heavy hand on the smaller gem’s shoulder who kept scowling, not at all comforted. “It was just an accident. Happens to the best of us, right?”

Bismuth’s smile was still bright and warm. Spinel tried to return it, but it was forced and painful.

“We better get going. Places to see, gems to talk to, all that…” Spinel grabbed Y/N and rushed out of the shop.

“It was nice meeting you!” Bismuth called to your retreating backs.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day went by like a whirlwind. 

They stopped to talk to another gem before lunch, then stopped by a restaurant. Y/N was surprised to find one in Little Homeworld, since gems didn’t eat, but the food was really good! Spinel kept trying to steel fires, giggling every time her hand was slapped away. She got more creative with her attempts, trying to trick Y/N into looking away, stretching her hand out of sight, even almost wrestling the human for it. They both laughed about it, loud and bright, not caring as the other gems occasionally stared, shaking their heads with smirks on their faces or looks of annoyance.

Then they were at it again, flitting about the town, Y/N talking to whoever looked interesting. As the day went on, word got out and a few gems went to her themselves. These she found the most interesting. There was a group of gems who called themselves the off-colors who wanted to talk about how they found each other, then there was a blue and green gem who talked about the difficulties they faced getting used to living on the earth, and then there was a group of soldiers. All their stories were so fascinating! 

But Y/N did notice something odd. Throughout the day, whenever someone began to talk about Spinel the pink gem grew upset, even if she tried to hide it, and would drag the human away. On to the next thing, no lingering! The more it happened, the more Y/N began to wonder. What was Spinel trying to hide? She had heard so many stories that day, but now the only story she wanted to hear was hers.  
When the sky went dark, the lights went up. The town was well lit, some areas surrounded by warm fairie lights, others lit just by the light pouring out of the buildings. It was stunning, especially the town square. Y/N wished she could stay longer, but she was starting to get tired from all the interactions.

“Hey Spinel.”

The small gem looked up at her, looking rather content and happy.

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t we walk back to Beach City. We can enjoy the night a little more.”

“Of course, that sounds like a great idea!”

She took her usual spot at the woman’s side, arms wrapping over and over around hers as they walked into the night. The farther from town they got, the quieter the night became, the only sound the crunching of their feet on the dirt path and the crickets singing amongst the grass. The moon was especially bright, outlining everything in silver and illuminating the path before them. Y/N could feel herself relaxing, the others presence a comfort.

Now that she finally had a break from the barrage of information, Y/N could think. Mostly, she thought about the gem walking next to her. It felt like she knew nothing about her. She was mischivious, fun, excitable, but that was only the surface. What was she hiding beneath the mask? She looked happy, but there was more there. Especially now, in the quiet of the night when thoughts weigh heavy. Her brow was furrowed, pigtails now drooping and limp, shoulders slumped as if whatever she was thinking was hard on her. Her hold tightened unconsciously, face set with anxiety and fear, getting worse with every moment. Y/N’s arm started to really hurt.

They stopped walking.

“Spinel? Are you okay?”

The gem didn’t answer, she didn’t move. Her only response was to tighten her grip even more, eyes going glassy with unshed tears. Y/N didn’t know what to do, so she just tried lowering the panicking gem to the ground, kneeling in front of her and trying to wrap her free arm around her shoulders. The gem buried her head into the other chest, collapsing into her, finally unwrapping her arms from the woman’s arm and winding them around her waist instead. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m right here.”

Y/N found herself whispering comforting words, rubbing large circles into the gem’s back. She didn’t know what else she could do with no knowledge of what brought this along. 

Eventually, what seemed like hours later, the gem started to relax, her shoulders slumping as all the tension left her body. She sighed, loosened her arms slightly but still refused to let go.

“Are you feeling better?”

Spinel nodded, finally lifting her head to look at Y/N with big, wet eyes, looking lost. 

“What was that about? Can you tell what you’re thinking?”

She shook her head, pigtails whipping back and forth violently. 

“Hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me. We can just sit here for a bit. How does that sound?”

The gem sighed, forehead falling to the human’s shoulder. She took that as a yes and settled in, cradling the gem. 

They ended up staying there all night, but Y/N didn’t mind. She was perfectly content helping her new friend and falling asleep with her in her arms.

Spinel just held her tight.


	5. Chapter 5

When Y/N woke up the next morning, Spinel was gone. She sighed, forced herself to her feet, and walked back to town. Thankfully they had managed to cover most of the distance the night before and it only took her about half an hour to get back into her car. 

She went back to the motel and showered, thoughts wandering to the day before and the pink gem.

Spinel, as much as she tried not to, was having similar thoughts.

She sat still on top of the hill, the lighthouse behind her and the ocean stretching endlessly before her. The rising sun shone on the water, painting everything shades of pink and yellow. It was truly beautiful, but she didn’t see any of it. Her thoughts consumed her.

What was she doing? Attaching herself to some human like she did. That’s what she did before, with … her, and she was left behind. She had to be smarter than that. If she got attached so quickly, she would only be hurt again. She needed to play it cool, needed to pace herself. She had to be sure she could trust this human before falling for her.

But was it too late? She knew she shouldn’t be thinking of her, but thoughts of the woman continued to cross her mind; the glow of her eyes, the shine of her smile, the curl of her hair. But, more than anything, the way she held her the night before, the comfort she felt in those arms. She realized that, even though it was going to hurt her in the end, she already trusted the woman. She couldn’t even imagine going back to the life she lived just a few days ago, alone, forcing a smile for the gems around her, trying desperately to win their favor, to make a single true friend amongst them. 

Now that she had someone who could be her friend, who saw her broken and comforted her, who enjoyed her company instead of just putting up with her, she was terrified. She wanted so much just to let it be, to spend time with Y/N, to be her friend, but she just couldn’t.

What was wrong with her?

She avoided the coffee shop that day, hidden away in Steven’s home. She tried to avoid thinking about Y/N, playing games with Steven and Amethyst through the afternoon. But that didn’t last. They had other things to deal with. It was as she said before, they were busy people. 

Garnet found her sitting at the counter, head in her hands, trying to think of something, anything, but Y/N, and failing. Because if she was with her, she would be happy right now. They would be talking about something silly no doubt, like the weird stuff animals did, or that one book she read where the family got annoyed by the ghost of the house, or even that musical where everyone was cats. A sad smile spread across her face.

Then there was a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. Garnet sat next to her, offering a warm smile and a comforting hand. And just like that, she was telling the other gem everything about the last two days, about Y/N, how amazing she was, and how terrifyingly fast she had grown attached as much as she told herself she shouldn’t. Garnet was just as understanding as always and listened, letting Spinel go on and on, often repeating herself in her rush to get everything out. 

When she finished, Spinel let out a giant sigh, melting on the chair, arms and legs getting all noodly and pooling on the floor.

“I don’t know what to do.”

Garnet hummed, thinking everything over. 

“No one can make this decision for you. But relationships are built on trust. If you already trust her, then it might be worth the try.”

Spinel glanced up at the gem, head laying on the counter.

“You can see the future, can’t you? What’s going to happen?”

“It’s … more complicated than that. There is a number of things that can come to pass, both good and bad.”

“But can you give me an idea? Please?”

Garnet hummed again, going silent for a while.

“It could end badly, but it can also be the best decision you’ll ever make. There are too many possibilities to say for sure.”

This didn’t seem to help as the smaller gem went back to moping, sighing deeply. Garnet rubbed her back comfortingly for some time before she left the pink gem alone with her thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

Y/N spent her third day in the coffee shop working. Or at least, trying to work. She found herself unable to concentrate, listening to the same audio over and over again and not processing a single thing. She found herself glancing up at the door, almost expecting to find a pink gem standing there, but she was never there. 

It got late and the shop was closing, so she was forced to pack it up and try to get her work done later. The car ride to the motel was filled with a heavy silence, a scowl taped on to Y/N’s face. She was disappointed by the lack of progress in her research. And maybe by the emptiness of the chair next to her. But it was just one day. There’s always the chance she would see Spinel tomorrow, or maybe the day after. She didn’t need to see her every day.

At least, that’s what she told herself when she went to bed that night.

The fourth day was beginning to look like it was going to be more or less the same as the third. Y/N only hoped that she would be able to actually get her notes written down. Maybe she’d be able to focus more if she wrote it all down instead of typing it out. Like she did on the first day.

By midday, she had managed to get several pages of notes down. She was already feeling better after the day before. 

Then she looked up and caught the already familiar sight of Spinel, hovering just outside the doorway. She looked anxious, pigtails drooping and hands unsteady as she finally opened the door.

Y/N went back to her notes pretending she hadn’t been staring. She didn’t look up till she heard the screech of a chair being pulled out as someone sat down.  
Her eyes locked with Spinel’s immediately and she couldn’t look away. The gem looked anxious but determined, her face stern. The look sent a shiver down her spine.

“We need to talk.”

Y/N set her things aside, but the moment she gave the gem all of her attention she instantly grew more nervous, the determination draining from her features. She started wringing her hands, her eyes dropping to the table.

“I … I wanted to tell you my story,” she said after a long pause. “From before I came to Earth …” She seemed to really be struggling to get the words out, glancing around the shop constantly. 

“Hey,” Y/N laid a hand on the gems, their eyes meeting once again. “Do you want to talk about this somewhere else?”

The gem nodded, jumping out of the chair as if it was burning hot. Y/N followed more slowly, making sure to pack her things away and slinging the bag over her shoulder. She grabbed the gems hand, leading her out of the shop and through the town. She decided to take them outside of town, the gentle hills and plains between Little Homeworld and Beach City. She took her time finding a good spot to sit. She wanted Spinel to have the time to compose herself. 

She picked the top of one of the hills and they sat down side by side. Y/N started picking at the grass, waiting for Spinel.

Finally, the gem took in a deep breath, steadying herself before she began.

“The first thing I saw when I first formed was Pink Diamond. I knew instantly that we were supposed to be best friends. I was so excited to meet her! All I wanted to do was make her happy and get her to laugh. We were given a garden to play in. We had so much fun there! And I made Pink laugh so much! I was happy! And I thought Pink was happy, too. She told me all about how sad she was on Homeworld and I would cheer her up.”

“But then Pink got something she had always wanted, a colony of her own! I was so excited! I thought that we would be able to play so many new games on the new planet. But…”

Y/N could see the tears building in the gem's eyes as the memories came flooding back. She put her arm around her shoulders, pulling the gem closer to her. Spinel let her, resting her head on the human's shoulder, the tears pouring down her face. She sniffled and took a deep breath before continuing.

“She told me were going to play a new game. I had to stand very still in the garden and if I didn’t move by the time she came back, I would win. I was so stupid then, I thought it was a good idea. So, Pink left and I w-waited for her. I-I waited f-for 6000 y-years. But s-she-she … she n-never came back!” 

Spinel wailed that last part, burying head into Y/N’s shoulder and just sobbing, hands grasping at the human’s shirt. It was just too much for her. She had tried to block the emotions out for so long, but now the dam had burst and she was completely overwhelmed. 

Y/N wrapped the gem in her arms, rubbing circles into her back and letting her get it all out. Her heart broke at the sounds coming out of such an amazing gem. She sounded so devastated, lost, broken. She felt angry at the gem who had hurt her so deeply, this Pink Diamond. But more than that, she just wanted Spinel to feel better, for her to be happy. 

After letting herself cry for some time, she managed to get herself under control at least enough to finish her story. Her voice was still pained and broken.

“And then there was a message and it was Steven and she was gone. Not only did she just leave me there, but she didn’t even exist anymore, someone who I thought was my best friend! I was just - I was so hurt! And then I got so angry! I just wanted to hurt her back, but couldn’t. So I tried to destroy everything she loved.”

Y/N felt the hands on her shirt tightening and twisting.

“I-I tried … to kill Steven. I tried to destroy the Earth. They took her away from me! Why were they better than me? What did they have that I didn’t?” 

Her voice trembled with rage, but then it suddenly softened, sad and broken once more. 

“Why wasn’t I good enough …”

All the tension left her at once, leaving her limp and clinging to Y/N, her anchor in all this mess. She was probably going to leave now that she found out what the gem had done, and even though she knew she should let go she couldn’t seem to move her hands.

Spinel was shocked when she felt something touch her face. Her head whipped up to see Y/N looking down at her with concerned eyes, glassy with their own tears. And didn’t that make everything worse? The last thing she wanted was to make her cry. She expected anger, expected to get shoved away and left behind, not tears. Why couldn’t she do anything right? 

“Stop.”

And just like that, she stopped. All her focus was on the human in front of her and only that.

“It wasn’t your fault that she left. She was the problem, not you. It only makes sense that you would want to lash out.” 

“But … I could’ve hurt so many people! I-I could’ve hurt you …”

“Do you regret doing it?”

Spinel dropped her head, unable to look Y/N in the eyes anymore.

“Yes…”

“Are you at least trying to improve.”

“Every day.”

“Then I don’t see a problem.”

Spinel furrowed her brow in confusion, then looked back up.

“You’re not angry? You’re not going to leave?”

Y/N shook her head, smiling down at the gem. Spinel smiled back, resting her head on the human's shoulder as happy tears wet her face. They sat together like that for some time before Spinel finally moved, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes.

“Feeling better?”

The gem nodded, a big smile on her face.

“Than let’s go do something fun.”


	7. Chapter 7

“So what we’re going to do is, we’re going to go through this store, find the craziest outfits, and then we’ll put them on and take stupid pictures. I use to do this all the time with my friends in college.”

Spinel looked around the shop. Y/N said it was called a “thrift store”. The whole place had a weird smell, with white walls and white tiled floors. Most of it looked to be taken up with rack after rack of clothes. 

“Since you’re a gem you can probably just shapeshift the clothes, huh?”

“Yeah, but I can still get some great ideas! And you still need to get some clothes. Let’s go!”

Spinel grabbed the humans hand, dragging her into the store, both of them giggling. Y/N was right, there were some absolutely rediculous things in the store! Like an entire clown costume that the human cackled at, but adamantly refused to wear, or the many dresses with wild flower patterns that were ten sizes too big, or full head masks. Spinel enjoyed every moment they spent laughing at the odd clothes.

Eventually, Y/N compiled a decent pile of clothes she wanted to try, thinking they would either be really cute or really funny, and they went off to the changing rooms.

They had gotten lucky that day, almost no one else was in the store so they didn’t have to worry about hogging the changing rooms. Y/N insisted that they were not to be using up the changing rooms when others needed them. 

And then came the best part! They would go into their rooms and pick their outfits, then they would come out and see what each other looked like. At some points they would laugh so hard Y/N would need to sit down. And her laugh really was perfect. It held all the warmth of a campfire on a cold night, ringing in one's ears pleasantly and lingering long after it had faded. It made Spinel feel light-headed like everything was right with the world, like nothing could go wrong. She craved that sound, making the woman laugh more and more. 

By the time they left the store Spinel felt like she was walking on air. This had been the best, most fun day she had had in a very, very long time.

\----

“Have you guys seen Spinel around?” Steven yelled down the stairs, appearing moments later to find Pearl and Amethyst sitting on the couch. “I haven’t seen her all day.”

Amethyst just shrugged, but Pearl perked up at the question. 

“Oh, I believe she’s out with that new friend of hers. You know, the author, Y/N?”

“Oh, that makes sense. Did she tell you she was going out?”

“No, actually, I think she left pretty early this morning. Amethyst was just showing how to use this social media app and I found Y/N’s account. She just put up some pictures of them wearing silly clothes and whatnot.”

“Wait, really?”

Pearl made a sound of affirmation, handing her phone to Steven. Sure enough, there was picture after picture of the two wearing things like old lady dresses, oversized suits, and what looked like 50 shirts at once.

While he looked through them, Amethyst was just confused. 

“Wait, who’s Y/N?”

“She’s a human author. She came into town to research gems so that she can write a book.”

“And why am I only just now hearing about her?”

Steven chose to ignore their conversation, continuing to look through the pictures, stopping at one in particular where it looked like the two were laughing, tears in their eyes.

“They look happy…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have something light after all the emotional turmoil of the last few chapters lol


	8. Chapter 8

They didn’t do a lot over the next two days. Y/N insisted that she needed to work and sort through all her information. So she stayed in the coffee shop, writing everything in her notebook. Spinel showed up for a few hours, just sitting with her, enjoying her company before going on her way.

The day after they went back to Little Homeworld, talking to more gems. Y/N said she was sure she nearly had enough material for her book, but having the extra there was always helpful. Halfway through the day Y/N collapsed onto a bench, heaving a giant sigh. Spinel sat next to her, looking just a tad concerned.

“What’s up?”

The human smiled at her.

“Nothing much. I think I have just enough material, and I still have over a week left! That’s at least a full week of free time!”

“Oh,” Spinel said, forcing a smile. “That’s great!” She looked away, deciding to stare at her feet instead. 

“Ok, now it’s my turn to ask what’s up.”

Spinel shrugged, looking thoughtful, a frown etched in her face.

“When do you have to leave?”

Oh. So that’s what was bothering her. Y/N frowned, taking a moment to think over her answer carefully, then smiled brightly at the gem.

“We have a week. Let’s make sure it’s the best week ever!”

The gem thought about it, wrapping her mind around the idea that her new friend would be leaving soon. She didn’t want to be alone again! Why couldn’t Y/N just stay here? Was it because of her? Did the woman actually hate her and was only dealing with her because she felt some stupid sense of obligation? Of course, it must be. Who would want to be her friend? 

Spinel was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t even notice the way her hands twisted or the way her shoulders tensed. She just froze up as the panic and self-hate overwhelmed her once again. Even when she did realize that’s what was going on, it only made things worse for her. She thought she had been getting better! She hadn’t had an attack like this in weeks, but then this stupid human shows up and she has three in a week! No, it wasn’t her fault, she was amazing. She was beautiful and fun and just so amazing, nothing like herself, a broken useless thing that only made others miserable. 

She didn’t notice she was pulling at her hair until gentle hands were prying hers away and a gentle voice was leading her back out of the swirling abyss that was her thoughts.

“ … can hear me, please nod.”

Spinel nodded.

“Just breath, okay? Focus on me and breath when I do, okay?”

She nodded again and did as the woman instructed. She took a deep breath in, then out, in, and out, in and out, and they kept doing that till the gem’s head had cleared. 

Y/N smiled at her again, a smile of relief, and Spinel thought, no, she didn’t hate her. If she did, there’s no way she would look at her like that, like she cared, like the gem was precious to her. Her gem warmed at the thought and she could feel her face heating up, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She just smiled with her, resting her head on her shoulder and wrapping her arms around her waist. They stayed like that for a while until Y/N almost jumped up.

“I have an idea!”

With that, Spinel was being dragged back to Beach City. 

They ended up stopping at some sort of store Spinel had never been in before. There wasn’t as much in there as other stores. There were no shelves, just a long table in the middle with various sized rectangles on it. Other things were also hanging from hooks on all the walls. Those rectangles looked familiar. She had seen a lot of humans use them, even Pearl had one. What did they call it again? A … phone? A cell phone?   
  


Y/N led her inside.

“I’m going to get you a phone!” She announced, motioning to the rest of the store. “That way, when I have to leave, we won’t actually be apart! You can just talk to me whenever you need to.”

Spinel’s eyes go wide at that.

“Really? I can talk to you whenever I want?”

“Yeah! That way, it’s like I’m still there.”

So they looked over the phones on display. The gem didn’t really understand anything she was talking about, though. She didn’t know a thing about phones, so she just trusted whatever Y/N told her. She picked out the phone and talked to the person at the register, talking about “data plans” and stuff like that. The gem didn’t really pay attention, just watching the human as she talked, arms tightly wound around her own. 

Then, finally, they left the store, a small white bag in Y/N’s hand. The human led them to the beach where they sat against a rock facing the ocean. It was then that she took the phone out and started showing her how to use it.

“First, I’ll put my phone number in. So, you can send me messages by clicking this icon, then clicking this plus button and picking my name. If you want to message someone else, you just need to get their numbers and pick them. Now you can write out anything right here and hit the send button and I’ll get it.”

Her fingers moved quickly over the screen, captivating the gem. As her fingers moved the word “hi” appeared on the screen. When she hit send, there was a buzzing sound and she took out her own phone to show the gem the message on the screen; “hi”. Her eyes widened.

“Whoah.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. You can also send pictures. To call me you just have to …”

They spent what was left of the afternoon playing with the new phone, then it was time to go.

Y/N sighed, glaring at the setting sun.

“Sorry, Spins, but I should probably go.”

Spinel cocked her head to the side.

“Spins?”

“Yeah, it’s the only nickname I could think of.”

She thought for a moment, then a smile slowly broke over her face.

“I like it!”

Y/N chuckled and waved goodbye, leaving the gem on the beach, smiling. Then the phone buzzed in her hands, startling her. She read the message and felt like she was soaring!

_ See ya tomorrow, Spins! _


	9. Chapter 9

\----------------------------------------------------------

Y/N woke up with a start, not quite able to identify what had woken her up at first, then she heard the buzz again. She fell back into the bed, reaching for her phone. Sure enough, she had some messages from Spinel.

_ HEy _

_ You up yet _

_ ? _

She yawned as she replied.

_ Ye, what you want to do today? _

_ Don’t know, whatever you feel like _

Y/N thought it over for a second. They had done a lot over the last couple of days, had almost been inseparable except for when the human needed to sleep. They played a lot of games, from visiting the Funland Arcade and showing the gem Just Dance to silly, more childish games like tag. Y/N even spent some time showing Spinel how to bake! They may have made a mess of Steven’s kitchen, but those brownies were sure worth it, and she made sure to apologize and offer the Crystal Gems some of the brownies, too. They ended up all cleaning the kitchen in no time!

But what were they going to do today? She was starting to get tired of video games, but she also didn’t have a whole lot of hobbies or anything. What was there around Beach City? There had to be something they hadn’t tried yet.

Of course, that’s it! She had to do some research first, checking the prices and her own bank account. Her savings for the trip were starting to get low, but they probably could go through the last couple of days without spending too much. It should be just enough. She sent the text to Spinel.

_ I have an idea! Meet me at the Boardwalk around 9? _

She went off to go take a quick shower and when she got back there was a new message.

_ Can’t wait! _

\---

Spinel knew she had gotten there early and would have to wait, but it still made her anxious to wait so long. She kept telling herself to calm down, there was still time, it wasn’t even 9 yet! She checked the time on her phone almost constantly.

She only completely calmed when she spotted Y/N in the distance, walking over to her. She tried not to smile, to not look too excited just by seeing the woman, but couldn’t keep the wide smile off her face. When the human waved at her she waved back enthusiastically. 

“You ready to have some fun?” Y/N said when she finally reached the gem.

“You bet! I’m always up to spend time with my best pal!”

“Hell yeah! Let’s go!”

The human grabbed the gem's hands, pulling her down the Boardwalk and towards the Fun land Amusement Park. Spinel had been there a few times with Steven, but they hardly did anything. They had mostly just been passing through or meeting people. Wow, she was just so excited to try out all the rides and games! 

They did the rides first since there weren’t very many. They ended up riding the rollercoaster five times in a row since there weren’t a lot of other people riding and the man running it didn’t care in the least. Every time they went through, the gem felt giddy and light, though whether that was from the ride or listening to the woman next to her laughing in delight. Whatever it was, it sent something inside her fluttering and warmed her gem.

They went through the rest of the rides at least once, but none of them were quite as fun as the first. Then they went on to the games.

“You have to be careful about which game you choose to play.” Y/N had told her. “Some of them are rigged so that you can’t win them, like at all.”

So, the gem was shone which games they could play and still have a chance of winning. After the first time, she tried to stretch to make the game easier, the human also insisted that she didn’t use her powers because that could be considered “cheating”. She ended up finding it more fun, more of a challenge. 

After a while, they took a break and just sat down on a bench. It was nice, just sitting there and talking. It might be one of her favorite parts of the day. It was peaceful, the human's voice filling her head and filling her with contentment. She sighed, laying her head on the others shoulder.

“You haven’t seen any musicals? Really?”

The gem shook her head, feeling the fabric of Y/N’s shirt rub against her cheek. 

“I haven’t really seen any human entertainment. How are musicals different?”

“Musicals are more music based. There’s a lot of telling the story through singing and dancing.”

“That actually sounds nice. I like music.”

They grew silent again, admiring the way the setting sun cast shadows throughout the park. Spinel closed her sighs, taken in a not needed breath and letting it out slowly.

“You want to steal Steven’s TV and watch a musical?”

Spinel hummed, then nodded.

“Yeah.”


	10. Chapter 10

Steven wasn’t sure why he wasn’t surprised when he came home to Spinel and Y/N taking up his couch and his TV moved to the coffee table. They weren’t even watching the TV! Y/N was typing away on her computer and Spinel sat next to her, wrapped up in a blanket and watching the computer screen. He sighed heavily, giving the girl standing next to him a look of apology. Connie just shrugged, accepting the other's presence.

“Oh, hey Steven,” Y/N said. “We’re stealing your TV for a night. Is that okay or do you want us to leave? We don’t really need it.”

Steven shared another glance with Connie, then shrugged his shoulders. 

“No, it’s fine.”

The woman squinted her eyes at that, not looking the least bit convinced. 

“... you sure about that? Seems like you wanted some time alone with your girlfriend.” The woman smirked.

Steven could feel his face heat up, glaring at Y/N while he tried to ignore the giggles from the other gem and human in the room.

“Why don’t you watch with us?” Steven was more than happy to accept the change of conversation.

“What were you going to watch?” He crossed his arms and the two teens walked over to the couch, Connie still smirking.

“Cats!” Y/N said it with a smile on her face and some jazz hands. Spinel giggled again.  
Connie lit up.

“I love that musical! Which version?” 

The girl plopped herself on the couch next to the gem, leaning in an attempt to see the computer screen. Steven sighed as the two talked, walking over and sitting with the rest. 

It took a bit, but Y/N finally found her favorite version and hooked the computer up to the TV so everyone could see. She rushed to turn the lights out then rushed back to the couch as the opening music played.

“Share the blanket.”

Spinel made an upset sound but let the woman tug the blanket over her shoulder. 

“Now this is a pretty weird musical, but also just a whole bunch of fun.”

Connie hummed in confirmation as the characters started appearing on the screen. 

Spinel almost instantly got invested with the people dancing on the screen, watching closely with wide eyes as the characters sang all about Jellicle cats and the sort. Y/N loved the way a smile spread over the gem's face when the first silly song started, giggles escaping at the antics of the characters. When things got more somber, the gem would lay her head on the shoulder of the woman next to her, her pigtails drooping. Y/N tried not to stare and watch the gems every reaction, but still couldn’t help but glance over more often than she probably should.

As the movie went on, Y/N’s eyes began to droop. She yawned quietly, scooting closer and leaning her head on Spinel’s. She could feel the gem stiffen for a moment before relaxing once again, a quiet sigh escaping her lips. The woman smiled softly at that.

Y/N didn’t move from her spot till a particular character appeared and she felt the need to cheer.

“This guy’s my favorite! This is such a good song.”

Connie gave some sort of reply, but Spinel didn’t catch it. She was too enamored with the smile on Y/N’s face. She went back to her position moments later and they returned to silently watching with an occasional chuckle.

Spinel may have cried a bit at the end, just maybe.

When the movie ended Connie went right into talking about it with Steven, who was plenty happy to listen to his girlfriend and tell her his own favorite parts. 

Spinel didn’t move for some time, far too comfortable under the blanket with a warm body next to her. She felt a sense of peace she wasn’t all that familiar with and she was in no hurry to break the moment. She sighed again and closed her eyes, letting herself sink into the wonderful feeling.

“Hey, what did you guys think?”

Connie’s question was met with silence. When the two teenagers looked over they found the gem and woman asleep under their blanket, leaning against the back of the couch and against each other, breathing easy.

“Oh my gosh, they’re so cute!” Connie whispered to Steven.

“I’ll get them another blanket.”

While Steven searched Connie turned the TV and computer off. The blanket was retrieved and placed over the two sleeping figures, then the teenagers went upstairs, talking in hushed voices and giggling.

Spinel snuggled into Y/N’s side and fell deeper into her sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

“Hey… hey Spins, wake up.”

Spinel groaned, eyes fluttering open to find Y/N standing over her, a small smile on her face. Her mind was foggy and dull, taking several moments to understand what was going on. She managed to piece together that she must have fallen asleep at some point. Steven had told her about sleep, what it was and how every human did it, but she herself had never slept before. 

But after falling asleep next to her and waking up to see that beautiful smile, she may just start doing it more often.

She smiled back up to the woman.

“Hey… What’s up.”

“I’m going to the store to get breakfast stuff for everyone. Want to come with me?”

The gem hummed.

“Sure.”

It was still early morning when they left. A thin fog clung to the town, giving everything a slight chill. Y/N shivered a bit, huddling closer to the gem who wrapped her arms around her arm. They walked along the beach in silence.

“I think we need to talk.”

Spinel stiffened at the words but tried to pretend it didn’t bother her.

“What’s up?”

She winced at the forced jovialness of her words and hoped the woman hadn’t noticed.

“Um …”

Y/N stopped walking, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. Spinel frowned at that. She was nervous? About what?

“Spinel, I … I was wondering..” She took a deep breath. “We’re friends, right?”

“What? Of course we are!”

The woman nodded.

“Right. But I don’t think … how do I say this?”

Spinel felt like the floor had dropped from below her. She didn’t want to be friends anymore, did she? She was about to tell her that she never wanted to see her again, that they couldn’t be friends, that she hated her. Why would anyone want to be her friend? She was stupid to think -

“I want to be more than just friends.”

Her mind went blank. She just stared. Y/N, this amazing, perfect, beautiful woman, she couldn’t be saying what she thought… right? 

“Spinel?”

The gem blinked, shaking her head slowly.

“I … I don’t understand …”

The woman’s face fell and she looked off into the distance.

“I… I really like you, Spinel. Like, more than a friend. So I was wondering if … for humans, when they really like each other they do this thing called dating where they are together as a couple to see if they love each other and want to stay together forever. So…”

She looked back down at the gem who continued to stare at her with wide confused eyes. 

“Spinel, will you date me?”

The gem had trouble wrapping her mind around what was said. Slowly, she began to understand. Y/N really liked her! She wanted them to be together, as a couple! She didn’t even realize she had moved till the two landed in the sand, a squeal escaping from her chest. She wanted to hold the woman, wrap her arms around her and never let go. She was so happy! Her chest felt so full that it might burst. The woman below her laughed, bright and happy, making the gem feel light as a feather.

“I take that as a yes?”

The gem nodded, unable to make any noise other than happy little squeals and giggles. Y/N thought it was the cutest thing. She placed a gentle kissed on the gem's forehead, making her sigh and nuzzle into the woman’s neck.

They stayed like that in comfortable silence until Y/N spoke up.

“As nice as this is, can we move? I’m getting a lot of sand in my hair.”

“Oh, sorry!”

Spinel jumped off and helped the woman up, idly brushing off some sand and giggling still. Y/N shook her hair violently, sending sand scattering and hitting the gem, making her laugh more. 

Once the woman was sufficiently sand-free, Spinel clung to her arm. The two talked adamently as the continued their walk to the store, now with more of a spring to their steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, they're officially dating now!


	12. Chapter 12

Steven had expected that, with Spinel in the house, he would wake up with a start to some sort of crash or bang. She always seemed to get into something while he was sleeping. Instead, he woke up on his own. It was nice, at least at first, until he realized just how quiet it was. He shuffled about, sitting up and wondering if he needed to check on her or something. 

Connie groaned from where she was sleeping next to him.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, I’m just going downstairs for a second. Be back in a bit.”

He gave her a kiss on the cheek before tiptoeing and peeking down the stairs. He had almost expected no one to be there, but he found Spinel and Y/N in the kitchen with a pile of groceries, whispering to each other. Y/N was going through the bags, taking everything out while Spinel watched. 

He approached them, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Morning!” Y/N said in a hushed voice. “We didn’t wake you up did we?”

“Nah, it’s okay, you didn’t wake me.”

“Does that mean I can talk normal again?” Spinel asked. Y/N rolled her eyes, but there was still a smile on her face.

“More importantly … Can I put some music on?” 

Steven squinted at the woman, blinking slowly.

“I guess? We’re pretty much up.”

Y/N brightened at that, wide smile on her face.

“Thanks, Steven! I’m making breakfast by the way. Do you like french toast?”

Steven blinked again.

“Sure.”

“Cool! It should be done in, like, half an hour to an hour.”

Steven was on his way back upstairs already, waving at them as he went. 

“Yeah, alright.”

Once he was out of sight, Y/N went straight for her phone, deciding on which song to play. Once she had an upbeat tune playing, softly so as not to disturb the teenagers upstairs too much, she got to work. Spinel watched in fascination as the human went about unpacking the food they had picked up and searching through Steven’s pots and pans. She picked a large flat pan, twirling it around and putting it on the stove. 

It was when she was searching for a large bowl and utensils that she started singing along to the music, quietly at first but getting steadily louder as she got into it. Spinel found that far more interesting than whatever the woman was cooking. Her voice had to be the best thing the gem had ever heard. It held so much warmth as she sang, so much happiness contained in the notes that left her. Her voice had a way of getting in her head, floating about and forcing out all the negative thoughts that were stubbornly embedded in her mind.

She gave a soft sigh, resting her head on the counter as she watched the woman work, singing and dancing the whole time, voice shifting from bright and cheery, to slow and solemn as the songs changed. Her favorite was when Y/N would sing a love song. She would close her eyes for a moment, voice sweet and warm, truly feeling the music. And when she got the most into it, when the song would reach its crescendo she would look right at Spinel, singing just to her. Every time her gem would get warm and fuzzy and her dopey smile would grow.

The food was almost done when Steven and Connie came downstairs. 

“Good timing, guys! I’m nearly done.”

The two teenagers sat at the counter, looking much more awake than before. 

“Mmmmmm, french toast! I can’t wait!” Connie said, eyeing the food as it cooked.

Steven was looking at Spinel, smirking at the look on her face. 

“Hey, Spinel.”

The gem hummed, not looking away from the woman.

“Your eyes have literal hearts in them.”

Spinel froze, face turning a deep red as everyone’s eyes landed on her. She whined, covering her hot face with her pigtails which had poofed out in embarrassment. Connie and Steven chuckled, but Y/N didn’t. She smiled softly and went over to the flustered gem, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close. The gem refused to uncover her face, burying it in the woman’s shoulder to hide the blush. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I think it’s adorable.”

The gem whined again, feeling her face heat up even more as the woman kissed the top of her head. 

“Come on, help me hand out breakfast.”

Y/N dragged the gem into the kitchen where they worked together to get everything ready. Steven and Connie shared a look at the two’s interaction but didn’t say anything.

Soon enough, breakfast was served, french toast and bacon. The moment Steven and Connie got their plates, Y/N shoved a piece of toast in her mouth and started on the dishes. 

“Woah, what’re you rushing for?” Steven asked after finishing a bite.

“I’ve got stuff to do today before I have to head home,” she said, glancing over to see Spinel droop slightly at the mention of her leaving. That really would be an issue, wouldn’t it? She could already see it. The gem standing alone in the middle of the street, hair drooping and limp, hugging in an attempt to ground herself as tears streamed down her face. The picture in her mind nearly broke her heart. She couldn’t do it, couldn’t leave her behind. 

Her face hardened and she quickened her scrubbing. 

“What kind of stuff?” Connie asked.

“Well …” Y/N got lost in thought for a few seconds. “I suppose … I have to find a job. And an apartment, but the job should come first.”

Everyone looked at her confused, even Spinel. She sighed.

“I don’t do long-distance relationships. I gotta move.”

It took another moment before it clicked and the two teenagers gave a simultaneous “Ooooooh!” Spinel stared at her with wide eyes. Y/N was nearly done with the dishes when the gem stopped her with a hand gently grasping her arm as if she was afraid if she grabbed too hard the woman would vanish before her eyes. The woman stopped what she was doing, E/C eyes turning to meet the gem’s deep pink ones. 

“Do you mean … Are you going to stay?” 

Her voice was quiet and small, twisting the human’s heart. She smiled softly, drying her hands so she could give her girlfriend all of her attention.

“I will have to leave, but only for a little bit. Then I’m going to live here. With you.”

The gem frowned slightly, not looking entirely convinced. Y/N decided that the dishes were close enough to being done, so she grabbed the gems hand and led her out of the house, waving as she went.

“Welp gotta get going! See ya later! Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch, Steven!”

“No problem! Thanks for breakfast!” Steven shouted back just before the door closed behind the two.

There was a beat of silence.

“So they’re dating now?” Connie asked.


	13. Chapter 13

Y/N decided that it would be best to start with the stores on the boardwalk. She and Spinel spent all morning jumping from one store to another, asking about work. Unfortunately, most of the stores were family-owned and ran, but she managed to get a few applications in and even got an interview set up for the next day. The woman was quite proud of herself for getting so much done in a single morning! 

They ended up taking a break on the beach after the morning had passed, sitting side by side while Y/N did something on her phone. Spinel tried to lean over and figure out what she was up to but couldn’t really make sense of it. Instead, she just watched the woman. The sunlight caught her hair just right, creating strands of gold amongst the brown. It was fascinating and the gem found herself running a hand through the strands to watch them change colors in the sunlight. The woman leaned into her touch, letting out a quiet sigh and making the gem giggle.

The woman ended up with her head settled in the gems lap, letting her play with her hair as she continued to mess on her phone. 

“Wow, the apartments near here are actually pretty affordable. Definitely less expensive than home.”

Spinel hummed in acknowledgment, deciding to try to braid the woman’s hair. The issue was that she didn’t actually know how to braid. No one had ever let her play with their hair before. So, she just ended up twisting it this way and that, managing an almost approximation of what she thought looked like a braid. She gave a discontented sound, running her fingers through the dark locks and undoing all her work so that she could try again.

“Spinel?”

For a moment, Spinel thought that she must have been zoning out and the woman had said something that she missed, but no. If she had said something she would know. She always tended to pay attention when the woman spoke, no matter what she was doing. 

“Yeah, Doll?”

There was a pause, then the woman started giggling.

“What?” Spinel asked, a little confused.

The giggling continued.

“You’re just so adorable!”

And then they were kissing. It was only for a moment, a brush of Y/N’s lips against her own, soft and gentle, but it was enough to send a shock through her form and warm her gem. She stared down at the human in shock, feeling her face heat up. The woman looked up at her with so much love in her eyes that it almost broke her. She felt a wave of emotion sweep through her, a love so intense that she could feel her form nearly dissipate. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to just be close to her, to hold her and never let go. So, that’s what she did. 

She wrapped the woman up in her arms, nuzzling her neck and making her giggle some more. She did what she could to hold the gem, wrapping her arms around her waist and leaning her head on the others.

There was no way of telling how long they stayed like that, contently holding each other. It could have been minutes later or hours when they separated enough to stare into each other’s eyes, untold emotions shared in that one, long look. 

They shared another kiss, this one longer than the last, filled with more emotion to reflect how they were feeling. Spinel noticed just how soft the human’s lips were and how nice it felt.  
This is what Spinel wanted. She wanted this happiness, to love and be loved in return. It was all she ever wanted and she had finally gotten it. She didn’t know when she had started crying, only noticing the tears were falling down her stained cheeks when the love of her life shifted in her arms, wiping the tears away. She left a hand on the gem’s cheek, smiling when she nuzzled her palm and sighed happily. 

“I love you, Spinel.”

The gem smiled.

“I love you, too. More than you could possibly know.”


	14. Chapter 14

This was it. This was the worst day Spinel had ever had since the whole garden thing. Y/N was leaving. 

She decided to stay on the beach, huddled behind a boulder, hidden from the rest of the world. She didn’t want to face reality, wanted to stay in her own little world a while longer where she had Y/N next to her, where she wasn’t going to leave her. Where she wouldn’t be reminded of Pink all over again. It wasn’t working nearly as well as she had hoped it would.

A sob escaped her, broken and quiet. She didn’t want to cry, not again, but it looked like she didn’t have a choice. She drew her legs close to her body, face buried in her knees and hands pulling at her hair. Her body trembled with repressed sobs. If she made too much noise then they might find her.

“Spinel?”

She broke the moment she heard that beautiful voice say her name. Of course Y/N would find her. Why did she think for a second the woman wouldn’t search her out, wouldn’t refuse to leave till they had shared goodbyes? Spinel didn’t think she could handle saying those words. It was too final. It meant that Y/N would leave her, just like Pink did. What’s to stop her from never coming back, from leaving the gem behind and forgetting about her? And the worse part is she would probably be better off without the gem anyways. Stars, she was being so selfish, forcing her to stay in Beach City.

A gentle hand touched her back and she flinched away, hard, every muscle in her form tensing at the unexpected contact. She pulled at her hair harder, a few strands breaking. No, the last thing she wanted to do was bother her. 

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?”

The words came out much harsher then she intended, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Whatever got the woman away from her.

But she didn’t leave. Spinel felt the presence next to her as Y/N sat down, body pressed against her side. The woman rested a hand on her head, gently in case she flinched away again. When she didn’t the woman worked on prying the gems hands out of her hair, gently but steadily. Once that was done, she cradled the gem's tear-stained cheek, drawing her out from her knees. Puffy red eyes finally looked at the woman and saw the concern and love in her eyes.

“Stop that!”

The hand shot away in an instant as if burned, Y/N looking at her in confusion. Spinel groaned, grabbing at her hair again.

“Stop looking at me like that! Stop pretending you care about me!” Spinel shouted, her whole body shaking with emotions. 

“Okay.”

And for a moment that one word hurt more than any goodbye could have. No more pretending. Y/N really was done with her now. She could already feel the loneliness sinking in again and another sob broke through. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut everything else out too, but that didn’t work either. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing helped the pain.

The woman next to her shifted, but not to leave. Instead, she drew her body closer to the gem, not daring to touch her again but still showing her that she was there. Spinel all but hissed at the woman, jumping up and away. 

“Get away from me! I can’t keep doing this!” Another broken sob. “I can’t keep getting hurt. I can’t! I know you don’t really care, so just get out of here!”

She didn’t move, staring up at the gem who now towered above her, all rage and grief, with a look of confusion.

“Why do you think I’m lying to you?”

“You have to be!” The gem shouted. “Who would care about some useless, broken gem like me? I’m just not good enough! Not good enough for Pink, not good enough for Earth, not good enough for Homeworld, and most definitely not good enough for you. Just look at you.”

Spinel looked down at the human, pigtails drooping as all at once the anger that had flared up left her. She turned her face away, unable to meet those warm eyes.

“You’re perfect … Beautiful, funny, warm, gentle, kind … And I know that, once you leave, you’ll find out how amazing you are and realize that I’m nowhere near good enough. You’ll find someone better and never come back and I’ll be left all alone, waiting for you to come back when you never will. And I’ll deserve it.”

When she finished her voice was nothing but a whisper, shaking almost as much as her body. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ground herself and stop the shaking, but it didn’t work. Of course not. Nothing she did ever worked. 

The woman watched her, heart breaking at the sight of the gem in so much pain. Slowly, she got to her feet and approached Spinel. She took a step away but did nothing more to resist as the woman embraced her, holding her tight. That was all it took for the gem to crumble, burying her face into the woman’s chest and letting herself sob, clinging to her shirt. The woman lowered them to the ground, humming tunelessly and petting the gems hair and just letting her cry for a while.

It took some time, but Spinel eventually managed to cry herself out, the sobs diminishing to the occasional whimper, then to nothing. Even then, their grips on each other didn’t loosen. When she had finally calmed down, Y/N spoke.

“I love you, Spinel. You’re my whole world and I couldn’t imagine leaving you behind, not for an instant.” There was a pause as the woman thought for a moment. “Come here, I have an idea.”

She grabbed the gem’s hand and led her to where the woman had put her bag. She ruffled through her things, looking for something in particular. Spinel wrapped her arm around her’s, refusing to let her go just yet, and peered over her shoulder. She was pretty confused when the woman took out a familiar notebook. She was even more confused when the woman handed her the notebook. She looked at the woman, head tilted to the side.

“Spinel, you are an amazing, beautiful gem and you’re the only reason I need to come back.” Spinel could feel her cheeks heat up, but couldn’t bring herself to believe what the woman said. Clearly she saw the doubt in her eyes because she continued. “But I can see that you don’t believe that, so I’m giving you this to hold onto.” Hesitantly, the gem took the notebook, letting go of Y/N to look through it. 

“Are these…?”

Y/N nodded. 

“They’re the notes for my book. I can’t even start outlining without them. If you can’t find it in yourself to believe I’d come back because of you, which I would in an instant, then you have to know that I’ll come back for my notes.”

Spinel thought it over then clutched the notebook close to her chest, tears threatening to spill once again.

“Thank you...”

Y/N hugged her again and Spinel happily excepted it, taking in as much of her as possible before she had to leave. 

“We can do this.” Y/N said. “I need you to trust me when we’re apart. We get through this and we’ll be that much closer.” She pulled away, just enough to smile down at the gem, a hand cradling her cheek. Her eyes were filled with so much love that it warmed Spinel’s gem. She had to trust this woman and, in that moment at least, she truly did. 

This time it was Spinel who kissed first, lips crashing against Y/N’s. They only separated when the woman needed to breathe. They stared into each other’s eyes for a good, long time, taking in the presence of the other one last time before they had to separate. Y/N heaved a hefty sigh.

“Okay. I’m going to call you every night and we can text whenever I’m not driving, so I’ll just let you know when I’m taking a break. It’ll take, like, two or three days before I get home, then we can text all the time, even when I’m working. I shouldn’t be more than three or four weeks.” The woman paused, smiling at Spinel. “Do you think you can handle this?”

Spinel sighed, resting her head on the woman’s shoulder. 

“Promise you’ll call?”

“Promise.”

The gem thought it over then nodded. 

“Okay, we can do this.”

“We can do this. I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

Spinel looked up at her, a sad smile on her face. “I love you, too. I’ll see you soon.”

And just like that Y/N was walking away, waving as she went. Spinel waved back until she was out of sight. A wave of loneliness crashed over her and she clutched the notebook close to her chest, trying her best to breathe evenly. She didn’t say goodbye. She said she’ll see her again. She’ll come back. She’ll come back.

This wasn’t goodbye.


	15. Chapter 15

Spinel sat upside down on Steven’s couch, staring intently at the phone she held tight in her hands. She was entirely focused on the device, not even reacting when Steven and Amethyst entered the beach house, throwing concerned glances her way. They huddled in the kitchen, whispering between each other.

Then they were sitting on either side of the pink gem, sharing a concerned look when she still didn’t react to their presence. 

“Hey, Spins!” Amethyst all but shouted, finally getting the gem’s attention. She glanced up, a small smile on her face.

“Oh, hey guys, didn’t see ya there.” She flipped herself the right way up in one quick motion, sitting with her legs crossed. “What’s up?”

“Just wondering if you want to hang out with us for a while,” Steven said.

“Yeah, we’re heading to the arcade! Come with us!”

Spinel hummed, looking back to her phone with a frown on her face, brow furrowed in thought. Finally, she nodded, smiling up at the two.

“Sure! I guess I could use the distraction till lata’.”

She put the phone away in her gem, making it vanish in a flash of light, and followed the two out of the house and into town. 

The arcade was pretty crowded, teens and kids taking advantage of the last few days before school starts again to have some fun. The energy was electric, a constant buzz filling the air from the old electronics, only heard when the crowd wasn’t shouting at each other. There were people running everywhere, zipping back and forth from one game to another. It was loud, busy, and the perfect distraction for someone like Spinel. 

The gem easily managed to match the energy of the place, dragging the other two with her as they played every single game in the place. They only took a break when they had to wait for one game to be free, then they were jumping right back into the fray. It was nearly impossible to keep with the gem, but Steven and Amethyst still found themselves laughing along with her. They cheered every time one of them won and poked fun whenever someone lost. They all became rather competitive, deciding to keep track of the wins. Whoever had the most wins would be the overall arcade champion!

So they played all day, even as the crowd began to thin and everyone else went home. By the time they decided to head back to the temple, it was already dark out, the sun only having just set. The moment they stepped outside, Spinel had her phone back in her hands, face lighting up when she saw that Y/N had finally messaged her! 

_ Hey love! Stopped for some dinner, will probably drive for a few more hours before stopping for the night. Then we can call again! _

_ Hopefully, I’ll get home tomorrow night if I don’t take as many breaks, so I won’t be able to message as much. _

_ Talk to you soon, sweetheart! Love you! _

It took quite a bit of self-control for Spinel not to squeal, a big dumb smile on her face. She texted back immediately.

_ Looking forward to it! Call when you can, toots! _

Once the message was sent, she looked away from her phone. She couldn’t bring herself to put it away, not when Y/N could call at any moment! But she didn’t need to stare at it anymore and wait for her message.

Amethyst managed to convince the others to go get some pizza, so they stopped by Fish Stew for dinner. Spinel wasn’t really one to eat, even after Amethyst told her all about it, so she didn’t touch the pizza. But then, she didn’t need to. Steven managed to snatch his few pieces before Amethyst got her hands on the food, tearing into it and managing to scarf the whole thing done in five seconds flat. It was impressive despite how gross it looked. 

They were just outside the shop’s door when Spinel turned to the other two, a smile on her face.

“Thanks for hangin’ out with me, ya two. I had fun.”

“Good, that was the point,” Amethyst said, getting herself a dirty look from Steven which she returned with a shrug.

“We just want to help get you through till Y/N gets back,” Steven said.

Spinel smiled a little wider, giving the gem and boy a fond look. It was hard to believe sometimes that she had somehow managed to make such great friends, even after everything she had done. 

“I really appreciate it.” She said, looking up to the sky. It was a bright and clear night. “I think I’m gonna go for a walk. Catch you later.”

The two let her go with a wave as they headed for the temple. She headed in the opposite direction, wandering aimlessly through the small town and into the surrounding hills where the sky was even more clear without the pollution of the town’s light. The night air was fresher out here and the gem found herself taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. 

She sat down to watch the stars. She did the same thing with Y/N just a couple of days ago, the night before she left. They had layed in the grass, side by side, in comfortable silence. She could remember the feel of the woman’s body close to hers, warm and comforting, could remember the weight of her hand in hers. In that moment, everything was perfect. She didn’t have to think about anything, didn’t have to worry about anything. All she had to do was be there. She felt an immense peace, one she could only feel with that amazing woman.

Spinel could still feel that peace now just remembering that moment. There was a flash of light as she drew something out of her gem. When the light faded she held Y/N’s notebook in her hands. She smiled down at it, running her fingers over the cover for a moment, then held it close to her chest, flopping back into the grass and gazing at the stars once more.

She didn’t want this peace to ever leave her, though she knew it would eventually. She decided not to think about it, not right now at least. 

She layed there for some time before she was drawn out of her trance by her phone ringing next to her. Her chest felt full and a wide smile took over her face. 

Maybe the next month won’t be too bad. 


	16. Chapter 16

Y/N was gone a whole week before the thought hit Spinel. She immediately stopped whatever it was she was doing, she couldn’t really remember what it was so clearly it wasn’t that important and sent a text to the woman.

_ I’m going to see if I can send texts from space!!!!! _

It took only a few minutes before she got a response.

_ Kinda random but ok go for it _

That was all she needed before she was dashing into Steven’s house, jumping onto the warp pad and vanishing in a flash of light.

It had probably been far too long since she had last visited the Diamonds in their palace. Was it a month? Two? She remembered she was going to visit but then Y/N had shown up. Well, now was as good a time as any!

Once in the palace, she sent the text.

_ In space now! Text back when you get this _

With that she went flitting through the halls, searching for one of the Diamonds to talk to. She just hoped that she wouldn’t be interrupting anything important… No! They were always happy to see her! No matter what they were doing.

She giggled as she went. She was just so excited! She hoped this worked.

She found Yellow first, walking in the halls. She heard her booming footsteps and followed the sound, smiling when she saw the giant. Her mind instantly went to work, thinking about how she should say hi. She decided to keep it simple. A mischievous smirk spread across her face and she chuckled, quiet and menacing. 

It had always been easy to sneak up on any of the Diamonds, so it wasn’t exactly a struggle to get behind Yellow without her notice. She spent some time struggling not to giggle, then, when she thought the moment was right, she jumped, making sure to land on the Diamond’s shoulder and shouting as loud as she could.

Yellow never jumped when Spinel tried to scare her. Her reactions were always more subtle. She froze up for just a split second before she managed to school her face back into careful blankness.

“Spinel!”

Said gem was laughing like crazy.

“Hey, Yellow!”

The gem sighed, but couldn’t quite keep a smile off her face.

“It’s always nice to see you. We were expecting you to visit sooner.”

Spinel shrugged, lounging on the Diamond’s shoulder. 

“Eh, something came up and I kinda got a little distracted… Okay, maybe a lota distracted.” She probably should have thought about what she was going to tell them about Y/N beforehand, but she was just so excited it never crossed her mind. She grew silent as she decided what her next words would be.

  
  


“I ended up meeting someone new on earth, but she was only in town for a little bit so I just wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. We got really close.”

“Oh really? You’ll have to tell us more about her.”

It was then that Yellow opened a door. In the room beyond was Blue and White, talking to each other quietly. They stopped when the door opened, smiling and brightening at the sight of their lovely Spinel.

“Spinel! I’m so glad to see you again!” Blue said in her soft voice, picking the gem off of Yellow’s shoulder. Spinel giggled.

“Aw shucks, you’re gonna make me blush.” she said, waving them off. 

“You have to tell us what you’ve been up to!” White said as everyone settled down for the conversation. Spinel told them all about Y/N, about how they first met, how they got along, and all of the fun things they got up to. Honestly, Spinel could go on for hours talking about her love. It took a lot from her to actually get to the point. She had almost forgotten!

“The point I’m trying to get to is… I really, really love her. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me! And I want you to meet her, or at least talk to her once. What do ya think?”

The Diamonds didn’t respond at first and the longer the silence lasted the more anxiety bubbled deep within her. Oh stars, what if they’re mad at her for falling in love with some random human? What if they didn’t want to be her friends anymore? What if they didn’t want to see her anymore?

“Oh, Spinel! That’s amazing!” Blue crooned, immediately relieving whatever anxiety had settled into the smaller gem. She smiled up at the blue matriarch, seeing a similar look on Yellow’s face. Only White really looked anything less than enthused. 

“Spinel …”

“Oh, hold on!” Spinel interrupted, taking her phone out and checking her messages. She brightened to find that Y/N was able to text back! “You can talk to her now! I have this human communication device we can use.”

“Really? I’d love to talk to her!” Blue said.

“I would like to know more about this human.” Yellow agreed. 

White stayed silent.

Spinel called Y/N, turning away from the Diamonds as the phone rang. Then the human picked up.

“I take it you can call me from space, then?” She said, her voice instantly bringing a smile to the gem’s face.

“Yep! Hey, I was wondering if ya wanted to talk to the diamonds?”

“What, you’re with them now?”

The gem chuckled.

“What do you think, doll?”

“... right, that was a stupid question. Bring it on!”

And so the gem put the phone on speaker and everyone began to talk. The Diamonds were actually quite curious about humans. The only human they had ever known was Steven, and he was only half human. It was clear that, even though they were trying to hide it, they didn’t expect Y/N to understand a lot. Spinel had to laugh at the looks n their faces when the woman called them out on it. At the very least, their conversation held a very different tone after that. 

It felt far too soon when Y/N said she had to go, even though Spinel was sure it had been at least a couple of hours. She put her phone away, the two sharing I love you’s before hanging up. She turned back to the diamonds, a big smile on her face.

“Well? What do ya think?” she had to ask, leaning in as she awaited their answers.

“She’s definitely … interesting, for a human.” Yellow said.

“I thought she was lovely!” Blue said, giving Yellow a look out of the corner of her eye. The Diamond looked away.

“Spinel ..” The gems smile dropped at the sound of White’s voice. She didn’t turn to meet her eyes, afraid she’ll find disdain or disgust there. When she did look she was surprised to only see worry. “I am very happy for you, just ... please be careful. She is human, after all. One day she’s going to die and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Worry flashed across the other Diamond’s faces as they shared a look. Spinel ignored them, thinking over White’s words.

“I know…”


	17. Chapter 17

Only a week left. Only a week before Y/N would be back in Beach City.

Spinel had a war of emotions clashing inside of her. She was on top of the hill again, looking over the ocean, the lighthouse behind her. It was, after all, the best place to go think. At least for her. 

Her phone rang, the sound piercing through the silence. Spinel was slow to pick it up, glancing at the name on the screen. She smiled softly at it but didn’t really have enough energy to do more than that. She answered it, putting it on speaker and placing it on the ground by her side.

“Hey Doll.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“Are you okay, honey? You sound a little down.”

The gem hummed, not quite able to describe how she was feeling at that moment. It was all too much, every emotion mashed together till she couldn’t tell one from the other.

“I’ve just got a lot on my mind is all. Nothing to worry yourself about.”

There was a sigh.

“If you say so, hun. You know, if I was there I’d give you the biggest hug and make you feel better.”

Spinel chuckled, smile widening.

“Just talking to you is helping a lot.”

“Good! Oh, by the way, I called because, um, there’s a slight change of plans. A good change!”

Spinel was skeptical.

“Aaaaand what’s that?”

“Weeeeeell, I was talking with my friends and a whole bunch of them want to help me move, right?”

“Yep, this we’ve discussed.”

“Turns out they all got some vacation time starting, like tomorrow, soooo…. We’re leaving early!”

This got Spinel’s attention. She sat bolt up, not quite able to believe what she was hearing.

“What? Really?” 

“Yeah! We’re all going to leave tomorrow, drive for two days and we should get there on the third day.” There was a pause. “I really miss you.”

Spinel smiled sadly.

“Yeah, I really miss you, too. But I’ll see you soon … right?”

“Yeah, just a couple more days.”

For a long moment nobody said anything. For Spinel, that moment felt like ages and in that moment she was in the garden again, left completely and utterly alone, waiting for someone who never planned on returning, who left her behind for better things. Someone who left her for better friends. Without thinking about it, her arms started winding around her body, squeezing tightly, but she couldn’t feel it. So her hands moved to her head and started to pull. The pain helped, the garden fading around her, but only for a moment. Soon enough, the garden returned. She pulled and she pulled but no amount of pain could break through. Stars, she was gonna stay alone forever. There was no way anyone would want to be around a broken, useless gem like her. She wasn’t going to come back. She would find someone better. There was always someone better.

“Spinel, are you still there?”

She just groaned, pulling even harder till strands of hair were torn from her head.

“Please sweetheart, can you hear me? Yes or no?”

She hissed, but managed to let out a harsh “Yes.”

“Okay, I need you to stop pulling your hair. Try putting your hands on the ground.”

She obeyed wordlessly, slowly but surely managing to untangle her fingers and twist her arms off of her. She placed each hand on the ground on either side, tugging at the grass lightly. She breathed like Y/N told her to, a ragged breath in and a ragged breath out. In and out, in and out, till her breaths came out smooth again. 

“Can you tell me where you are?”

“I’m in the garden…” she started, but then shook her head violently, grasping at the grass. “No.” She forced her eyes open, looking out over the ocean, the waves glistening brightly in the sunlight. “I’m by the lighthouse, on top of the hill. I’m looking at the ocean.”

“You’re not in the garden.”

She nodded, shoulders drooping as the tension left her form. She gave a shaky sigh. 

“I’m not in the garden.”

“Do you still have my notebook?”

She nodded again, taking the notebook out of her gem and clutching it tight to her chest. It grounded her and she finally found herself calm.

“Thanks, Doll.” Her voice was quiet and tired when she said it, her whole body sagging from exhaustion. Y/N’s voice washed over her when she spoke, filling her with a sense of peace.

“I love you, Spinel. I’m not going anywhere. Just two more days.”

Spinel nodded.

“Just two more days.”


	18. Chapter 18

Y/N found herself in a familiar situation. After a very, very long drive and a strong headache settling itself behind her eyes, she crested the hill and caught sight of Beach City. She couldn’t stop the smile that took over her face. Finally, after the longest month of her life, she was back.

Even after being gone for so long, she knew the way easily and didn’t have to think it over. Instead, her mind stayed on Spinel. Excitement bubbled up just at the very thought of the gem, of her brilliant smile. She couldn’t wait to see her again! She couldn’t wait to feel her arms around her again. Spinel gave the best hugs.

And there was the coffee shop and she was probably speeding - no, she was definitely speeding, but there was Spinel, nearly jumping in place in excitement and by God if you didn’t want to do the same thing. But first, you had to park. It did end up a little messy, but you didn’t care. You jumped out of that car in an instant, walking at first but once you saw Spinel, turning to smile that beautiful smile at you you found that you were running for her. And when she saw you she was running too, tears in her eyes.

And then, finally, the two met and all either one could think about was holding on tight. They didn’t care when they fell to the ground, giggles bubbling up from them, didn’t care about the people that stared. In that moment it was just the two of them.

Spinel couldn’t believe it! She came back! She really did come back for her. Her arms wrapped tight around the woman’s waist, burying her face into the crook of her neck and sighing as her giggles faded away. She sorely missed this, missed feeling Y/N’s warmth, missed holding her. It was the biggest comfort she could possibly have and the last month of anxiety and stress faded away like none of it had ever happened.

“Why don’t we move this into the shop, okay?”

Spinel whined, tightening her grip on the woman before reluctantly letting go. But the moment Y/N got to her feet the gem was on her once again, arms wrapped around hers over and over, body pressed close to her side. She just smiled wide at her, leading her inside where they could sit and just spend some time together. They ended up sitting down in one of the small booths.

Even though Spinel had just called the woman the night before, it seemed like they hadn’t talked for weeks! She had so much to say about nothing, the words rushing out of her like a flood, and the whole time Y/N listened, running a hand through the gems hair. At that time, Spinel was the happiest she had ever been. She had Y/N, the most beautiful person in the galaxy who somehow had fallen in love with someone as broken as herself and they had the woman’s entire life together. She really did love her and Spinel truly believed that, for the first time in her life, someone actually cared about her as much as she cared about them.

But they couldn’t sit there forever.

“Everyone should be getting here soon. We should probably go get the keys for the apartment and stuff.” Y/N said. 

Spinel hummed in acknowledgment, not moving from her spot. She was very comfortable, head resting on the woman’s shoulder and arms wrapped around her tight, but she was forced to move when Y/N did. The two left the shop holding hands and smiling bright.

—————————————————————-

The apartment Y/N found was in the middle of town pretty close to the boardwalk. Apparently, it was rather difficult to find since Y/N had to spend almost half an hour telling her friends where to go. Spinel giggled as she watched the woman struggle. Eventually, their calls pulled into the parking lot. Spinel and Y/N watched them from above, leaning on the railing outside the apartment door.

“Ready to meet some people.”

Spinel took a deep breath.

“Never.”

They ran down the stairs to meet the people who were now exiting their cars. Spinel clung to the woman as they approached the group.

“Hey, guys!”

And the group turned to the two of them, shouting their own greetings. It was very loud. Spinel told herself she’d have to get used to that, at least for the next couple of days.

“Spinel, these are my friends. That’s Josh, Tina, and Evan. Guys, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Spinel!”

Spinel could feel her face heat up at all the attention, eyes dropping to her feet and clinging tighter to Y/N. She chuckled quietly, giving the gem a gentle kiss on her head. The gem hummed happily at that.

“It’s nice to meet you!” One of the humans said, the big guy Y/N said was named Evan. He had a big, friendly smile, reaching a hand out to her. She shook it, giving her own tentative smile. 

“We’re going to have so much fun together!” Said the shorter woman with very curly dark hair, Tina, as she bounced towards them, getting uncomfortably close.

“Watch the bubble.” Y/N said, gently pushing the woman further away.

“Oh, sorry…”

“Hey, we ready to get started or what?” said Josh, already walking towards the moving truck he had pulled up in. 

It was a lot easier to deal with these strangers when they were working. The truck was full of stuff, boxes, furniture, random whatevers. 

“I’mma be real, I don’t know what half the stuff in here is.” Y/N admitted, shuffling through some of the boxes. “Most of it was given to me just the other day by random people from home. I think Mom put a table in there somewhere.”

“My cousin put his old TV in there,” Evan said, jumping into the truck to get to the back. 

Y/N gave a soft “Yesssss”, making the gem giggle. The woman smiled at the sound. 

The boxes went up first, each labeled for a different room. Before too long that lead to an argument. Which room was going to be the office and which was the bedroom? Spinel thought the biggest room should be the office since Y/N would be there all the time, but the woman thought that the smaller room would make a better office because it was closer to the living room and kitchen.

“But shouldn’t you be comfortable in your office?”

“I think the bedroom should be more comfortable, not the office, plus then I can get snacks whenever.”

“Nothings stopping from getting snacks from the backroom!”

In the end, Y/N got what she wanted. It was her office, after all, she could pick whatever room she felt like. Spinel was just happy the decision was made, mostly because Y/N gave her a peck on the cheek afterward, making her cheeks heat up and a dopey smile spread across her face. And with that, she was sent bouncing back to the truck, literally. 

After a while, she started grabbing the heavier things. Y/N had a lot of books and even Evan had trouble carrying those boxes and totes. She watched the human struggle with one of the biggest for a bit while she grabbed a few things. He managed to get it across the parking lot before he needed a break, heaving in an attempt to get enough air in his lungs. She went up to him.

“You okay?”

He nodded, waving her off as he continued to even out his breathing. She just rolled her eyes, dropping her boxes on top of the tote and easily picking up the whole pile with ease. She laughed at the look on the human’s face, leaving him behind to take the books to the apartment. She could hear Tina laughing behind her.

“Dude, she’s an alien! Or did you forget?”

“Right.”

She giggled all the way up the stairs, eager to tell Y/N what happened. She would find it funny, right? And she did! When the gem told her what happened she laughed along with her, one of her beautiful genuine laughs that always made her feel like she was about to melt. 

“The idiot. You should show off more, he’ll get so mad!”

They giggled together until another car drove up into the parking lot, a big multi-colored van that looked like it rolled right out of the ’60s or ’70s. 

“Hey, Steven’s here!” Spinel said, leaning over the railing a little to get a better look as six figures exited and started talking to the other three.

“Oh, that’s who that is! He did say he might come over to help. I’ll go talk to them.” 

She placed a kiss on Spinel’s forehead before running off, leaving the gem with a dopey smile on her face.


End file.
